Setup
Place the Cabin tile in the center of the table at the start.
Place the double-sided Cabin tile in the middle of the table, either side up. Leave extra room around it to expand the woods as you play. The Cabin tile is the anchor for all tile placement and trail connectivity.
Setup
Shuffle Snow tiles into a face-down stack and remove the top 4 without looking.
Shuffle all 30 Snow tiles and place them in a face-down draw stack. Then remove the top 4 tiles and place them in the box without revealing them. These 4 tiles are permanently removed from the game.
Setup
Select 1 random scoring card from each of the 5 types (Bear, Bush, Pond, Rabbit, Tree).
Separate the 15 Scoring cards into 5 types: Bear, Bush, Pond, Rabbit, and Tree. Randomly select 1 card from each type (5 cards total) and place them face-up for reference throughout the game. Return all remaining scoring cards to the box; they will not be used.
Setup
Shuffle Tool cards, draw 3, keep 2 (or 1 for harder difficulty), discard the rest.
Shuffle the 8 Tool cards and draw 3. Choose 2 of them to keep (or just 1 for a harder game). Place unchosen cards in the box; they will not be used. The kept tool cards are available to you during the game.
Setup
Draw 2 tiles from the stack to form your starting hand.
After all other setup is complete, draw 2 Snow tiles from the stack. These tiles constitute your starting hand of 2 tiles.
Turn structure
Each turn, choose either Expand the Woods OR Use a Tool — not both.
On each turn, you must choose exactly one of two actions: (1) Expand the Woods by placing a tile from your hand, or (2) Use a Tool card. You cannot do both in the same turn.
Tile placement
Place a tile from your hand orthogonally adjacent to any previously placed tile.
Choose a tile from your hand and place it directly adjacent (orthogonally — up, down, left, or right) to any previously placed tile, including the Cabin tile. Tiles may never overlap. Tiles may never be placed diagonally. A placed tile may align with only 1 square of another tile (partial alignment is allowed).
Turn structure
After placing a tile, draw from the stack to refill your hand to 2 tiles.
After placing a tile from your hand, immediately draw tiles from the stack until you have 2 tiles in hand again. If the stack is empty and you cannot refill to 2 tiles, continue playing with however many tiles remain in hand (including zero).